-
Youngest community leader takes the reins of decades-old Santacruzan tradition
By Cristina DC Pastor At the fragile age of 20, Federico ‘Freddy’ Burke became the executive chairman of the Santacruzan Festival, continuing a 44-year tradition started by the elders of Jersey City and the friends of his parents. “I volunteered to become the executive chairman of the Santacruzan and Flores de Mayo of Manila Avenue […]
-
The future looks bright for these all-American Pinays
Scholars. Athletes. Artists. Whether in academia, athletics, or the arts, this future generation of Filipina Americans are ever to excel. These five amazing Pinays are freshmen at top-ranked private high schools and highly regarded Catholic high schools in New Jersey continuing to represent well the FilAm community in all their endeavors. This quintet graduated from […]
-
Yazmin Wilkinson: A girl with a happy heart
By Vicky Vitug Five-year-old Yazmin Wilkinson, a beautiful Filipino-Belgian girl was named a top model at Belgium Kids Academy. At age 1, she was learning alphabet and numbers from her Filipino mother Diana. The girl who speaks three languages — Dutch, English and Filipino — is now learning to speak French, too. Yazmin hasn’t always been this lively and confident girl. […]
-
Classical pianist Victor Asuncion to aspiring artists: ‘Never stop learning’
By Maricar CP Hampton Three years ago, prolific classical pianist Victor Asuncion met a young violinist by the name of Adrian Nicolas Ong in New York City. He learned that Ong was already a “young artist to watch” back in the Philippines and that he was gathering praise wherever he performed. The FilAm Music Foundation […]
-
Updated vaccines are your protection vs COVID this Fall: CDC
“Been there, done that.” People are feeling like they’ve heard enough about COVID-19. But staying on top of the facts, vaccinations, and level of spread in the community is still important to keep your family and communities safe. In fact, updated vaccines that can better protect against the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its subvariants […]
-
Medel Paguirigan, RN: Amid the pandemic, a baritone is born
By Cristina DC Pastor For nearly four decades, Medel Paguirigan diligently forged a career as a New York City nurse until his retirement in 2022. As he rose the ranks from hemodialysis nurse at Brookdale Hospital in the late 1980s to his final role as Corporate Senior Director in Nursing Education at New York Health […]
-
Why Asian Americans are seen as a monolith in health services
By Sunita Sohrabji Asian Americans are regarded as one large monolith by the U.S. health care system, say health care experts. And currently, there is no attempt to disaggregate data for AAPI sub-ethnicities, leaving out information that is critical to resolving health care disparities. Moreover, less than 1 percent of National Institutes of Health funding […]
-
How my Faith, family walked me on my journey to becoming a writer
By Mark Polo Eyo When I was offered the extraordinary privilege to become the Communications Lead for NaFFAA, I asked myself if I was ready to play that significant role in amplifying our voice through writing for our Filipino American community. I felt the heavy burden of following the great footsteps of master communicators and […]
-
Albany teen Sophia Kapunan wins Jose Rizal digital art contest
By Cristina DC Pastor A freshman from Albany won Sentro Rizal New York’s Digital Art Contest, a competition organized by the Philippine Consulate, with the theme “Reimagining Rizal, the National Hero, through the eyes of today’s FilAm Youth.” Sophia Gabrielle Kapunan, 13, drew an image of the National Hero using her iPad. The image of […]